April Berthene, Author at Chief Marketer

Look inside Wayfair’s first physical store

After 16 years of selling billions of dollars worth of home furnishings online, Wayfair Inc. opened a flagship physical store today in Wilmette, Illinois. The store, located in the Chicago suburbs, carries roughly 12,000 products, a fraction of the millions Wayfair sells online. Wayfair selected items featuring a variety of styles and price points to […]

Shopper/Retail

PetSmart revamps its loyalty program

Pet retail chain PetSmart unveiled a revamped loyalty program called Treats Rewards earlier this quarter. After customer feedback of wanting a simpler program from the 67 million shoppers already in PetSmart’s loyalty program, the retailer decided to overhaul its offering, said Bradley Breuer, vice president of loyalty and customer relationship management at PetSmart. The new […]

Shopper/Retail

Paid search drives largest share of online purchases so far in 2024

Paid search was the largest driver of online sales for retailers so far this year, with 28.2% of online sales Jan.1-April 30 directly attributed to this channel, according to new data from Adobe Analytics. Direct web sales were the second largest driver, with nearly one in five purchases initiating in this way, followed by: This […]

Shopper/Retail

Starburst launches new marketing campaign powered by generative AI

Candy brand Starburst recently launched a new marketing campaign dubbed “Different Every Time.” The campaign uses generative artificial intelligence to create hundreds of assets for the ad, such as background imagery and caricatures. This is the first advertising campaign for Starburst in more than a decade. Read more about the campaign here.

Shopper/Retail

Ad for lactation cookies in Times Square pulled

An advertisement for cookbook author Molly Baz’s lactation cookies was pulled down from its Times Square spot earlier than expected. The advertisement promoted breastfeeding resource portal Swehl and its partnership with Baz’s cookie recipe that may increase breastfeeding milk supply. The image featured Baz holding the cookies to cover her chest. Media agency Clear Channel […]

JD Sports acquires Hibbett Inc. for $1.1 billion

British sports apparel retailer JD Sports announced it will acquire U.S. sports apparel retail chain Hibbett for $1.1 billion. JD Sports acquired all of Hibbett’s outstanding shares for $87.50 each, which was a 21% premium of the brand’s last closing price and a 29% premium to the 120-trading day volume weighted average price. The acquisition […]

Shopper/Retail

Gap hires new chief marketing officer

Apparel brand Gap Inc. hired Fabiola Torres as its new global chief marketing officer. Torres previously held executive marketing roles at PepsiCo, Apple and Nike. Torres replaces Mary Alderete, who left the the chief marketing role in November 2022, after nearly three years. Read more about Gap’s executive change here.

Shopper/Retail

Best Buy and CNET combine ad inventory

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy and product review publisher CNET are combining their ad inventories, the companies announced at the end of April. This will allow advertisers to purchase ads on Best Buy’s retail media network, which displays ads on BestBuy.com, in its app or in stores, alongside relevant CNET content, such as a product […]